BARONE'S C&CM

  Eight-time land speed record holder Valerie Thompson and her sponsor Barby Barone are teammates in the truest sense of the word. Each helps the other in their mutual quest for excellence. Barone and other sponsors make it possible for Thompson to compete by underwriting some of her expenses in salt flat streamliner car and motorcycle racing. Thompson in turn helps Barone’s personal financial advisory firm, Biltmore Advisors, reach its goal of visibility in the world of motorsports through signage on the vehicles and team uniforms. In the case of Thompson – the World’s Fastest Woman on Two Wheels – the goal is nothing less than shattering the current land speed record of 376 mph for a streamliner motorcycle. But the sponsorship is only the beginning of this rewarding relationship, as both women draw inspiration and motivation from one another. “I’m totally impressed with who she is as a person, and the complete mastery of skills she exhibits. This sport is fraught with da...

  A recent guided tour of the Phoenix Art Museum’s Legends of Speed exhibit – conducted by friend and legendary racer Lyn St. James – introduced me to the amazing career of Dan Gurney.   A successful racer who became both a car constructor and team owner, Gurney competed at the highest level in Formula One, NASCAR, IndyCar, Can-Am and the Trans-Am Series. On display at the exhibition was his famous Eagle Gurney-Weslake V12 that won the 1967 Grand Prix of Belgium. It was and remains the first and only time that an American citizen built and raced a car of his own construction and put it into the winner’s circle of a World Championship F1 race. As an aside, many consider the Gurney Eagle to be the most beautiful race car of all time. I have to agree. After a crash killed a spectator at the 1960 Dutch Grand Prix, Gurney became distrustful of engineers, and later constructed his own cars to better control his level of risk. He was quick to adopt the latest tools in s...

Valerie Thompson is a woman after my own heart. At the age of 32, the Tacoma, Washington, native bought a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, and the world would never be the same. A need for speed propelled her into the world of motorcycle drag racing. Suddenly comfortable at over 200 mph, she pushed further into Land Speed Record attempts. In March of 2018 at the age of 51, she became the world’s fastest woman on two-wheels by going 328 mph in a motorcycle streamliner. Only days later she had a horrific crash at 363 mph, sliding for nearly a mile on an Australian dry lake bed, but luckily walked away. This March, she’ll be returning to Lake Gairdner in Southern Australia to attempt new speed records on four wheels piloting the Treit & Davenport Target 550 Streamliner at two premier land speed racing events. Her goals include breaking the 415.867 mph class World record for a four-wheel blown fuel streamliner powered by a piston engine. As a woman in the predominantly male-...